


Dance with the devil in pale moonlight

by therune



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-16
Updated: 2012-04-16
Packaged: 2017-11-03 19:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/384788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therune/pseuds/therune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Devil, fairytales, and a horrible temptation</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance with the devil in pale moonlight

Once upon a time, there was a star, shining in the sky. It was the brightest and most beautiful of all. In the night it guided travelers to safety und guarded the dreams. It was the last star to vanish as day came, always staying to greet the sun and the next morning. That was why people called it the star of morning.  
But one night, something terrible happened and the star fell. It cast a tail of fire and set the sky aflame. The star fell into the abyss and was lost in the dark depths.  
The night seemed darker and darker since the star had fallen. Without the star´s bright light, the night gripped the earth tightly.  
It never went away, not really. The sun rose every morning, but the darkness lingered, it crept into the hearts of people and transformed them into black little rocks made of ice. The warmth of the sun couldn´t reach them, and every night more people were lost to the darkness. Those that were left behind in the dark, cold world prayed for light, they begged the star to return.  
And the star, buried in the dark and the cold and the depth listened. Little fires flickered to life, sending sparks of light to the world. And of course, the people most attracted to the light were the ones with darkness in their hearts. They grasped the tiny flecks and clutched them close. People prayed, people worshipped the star and more and more light returned. And on one fateful night, five stars arose in the night, illuminating the sky itself. Fire licked the earth and threatened to devour it. But those five flames were not alone. Hundreds of emerald flames arose, for every little bit of light can hold back the darkness just for a while. These lights joined, became bright and then the star itself, lost and fallen, arose anew from the abyss.  
The followers of the star, the people with the hearts of darkness, were awed and afraid. In the bright light of the star, they saw their own hearts and some, disgusted by the blackness, dropped their little flames, their little candles and fled the presence of the star. The others embraced the star and its light, listened to its promises, to its songs, whispers of power, of light and one by one they were seduced and enchanted. They followed the star, eagerly giving up their hearts of darkness for the powers that was to be theirs. And their dreams came true, they got more than they wished for, more than they could have imagined and payed a price no one of them really minded. What was a little black heart against power anyway?  
But amongst the followers, there was one without darkness in his heart. The night had tried to seize him, to grasp and grip him, but he slid out of its hands every time. He, too, carried a little flame to the star and the star saw him for what he was. for not one of its followers, but something different, something new. The star sang its song to him, whispered of power and greatness, but he didn´t listen. For he was the only one not blinded by the star and its light, he was the only one who could see. He saw the star for what it truly was - not the sole hope of the good people, but the source, the heart of the night itself. All the promises were lies and all the followers doomed and lost. The darkness began to creep into the hearts of the peole not because the star wasn´t in the sky, but because it had come to earth, had come too close and had poisoned the people.  
The star wasn´t their salvation but their doom.  
The star laughed. No one had ever seen it for what it was, everyone had always been blinded by the light and sweet, sweet lies. Only this man saw through it, and that was because the man was like the star itself.  
He lied, he tricked, he shone brilliantly and deceived. He cheated, he mocked and he spoke of promises he´d never keep. He betrayed and left those who trusted him alone.  
But he was the loneliest of them all, and the star understood because it, too, had been alone for many, many years. It yearned to be free again, to shine among its brothers once more, but it was down on earth and couldn´t rise, not yet. It needed more light, more little candles with the veridian flames, it needed more hearts. It wanted the heart of the man, of the man who lied and tricked like himself. The star spoke to the man, it charmed, it sang, it promised, but the man never listened. The night couldn´t grasp his heart, couldn´t touch it, because it was hollow inside. His friends went away, each of them taking with them a piece of his own heart until nothing was left anymore. The star knew what it meant to have an empty heart for its own was but a hole full of nothingness. The song changed and the star didn´t sing of power, but of friendship. It promised the man that he wouldn´t have to be alone ever again, the the hole in his heart could be filled. Then, the man listened. The star spoke of friends that never left, of families that wouldn´t abandon their children, of lovers that didn´t go away. The man looked at the star and saw a reflection of itself, it saw a man with hair of gold, eyes like flame and a wide grin. But it wasn´t himself that he saw but the star. The star asked the man to stay with him because together they would never be alone again. They would never be hollow again. They would fly together and never, never fall again.  
The man was tired of struggling, tired of lying, tired of being alone. The star, in the guise of a man, stretched its hand towards the man. The man hesitated, thinking of lost fathers, lost mothers, lost friends, lost brothers. He thought of darkness, of the cold and the loneliness. He placed his hand in the hand of the star. The deal was struck.  
And in the sky, a star rose illuminating the earth, showing people the darkness within themselves. The little candles spread over the whole earth. And above them all, the Trickster danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight.


End file.
